Fifteen Birds in Five Fir Trees 1.0

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• 1.0

Fifteen Birds in Five Fir Trees

I've been waiting for a Radagast hero for a while, he was my favourite Wizard to play in the old MECCG. So once the preview article went up I started building the deck and testing it with proxies.

It's pretty much a bog standard Eagles deck, but with a little more questing willpower thanks to Éowyn and Radagast , and a good early game to give you a turn or two to setup your board thanks to Grimbeorn the Old's action compression with his combat ability.

Opening Hand:

Probably the most important card to see in your opening hand is Radagast's Staff, the deck has a pretty high cost for it's allies because of the reliance on Eagle's so seeing that early will preserve you some resources in the early game.

A cheap creature, ideally Messenger Raven is going to help you get some extra action out of Radagast but as we're not relying on him as our primary defender, him not exhausting to quest is not compulsory. The Eagles Are Coming! in also a card you'll want to see early as once your deck starts thinning out it will start losing effectiveness.

At the Table:

The deck is relatively straightforward, we don't have a great deal of willpower but we have enough to usually keep in front of the staging area as we have a multitude of ways to deal with enemies.

Wizard Pipe forms the backbone of a lot of the decks combo potential, even without Messenger Raven you can throw an Creature that you didn't/couldn't play during the Planning phase just to draw an extra card. You can throw back your duplicate Radagast's Staff if you draw into them, as well as your unique Eagle allies, or Gandalf so you can bring them into play with Gwaihir's Debt

In the early turns we're going to rely on Grimbeorn the Old to defend for us, and attack if you're hoarding his resources (another reason Radagast's Staff in turn 1 or 2 can be key to the deck really singing) but once we have an Eagles of the Misty Mountains on the table chumping with Vassal of the Windlord or Winged Guardian to buff their defence so they can take over defence duty.

Once we're consistently playing creatures or drawing through our deck with Messenger Raven/Wizard Pipe you can use Radagast to play Word of Command to draw any card from your deck you might need. Meneldor to help with locations, Descendant of Thorondor to throw some direct damage at the enemy, or even Self Preservation if your defender is starting to get bloodied. If you't have a specific need to answer a problem with the encounter deck, Gwaihir's Debt is a great target for the Word.

Try and hold your "enter play" Eagle allies (Descendant of Thorondor, Meneldor) until you have a Gwaihir's Debt in hand so you can get more use out of their very power abilities. But given how quickly you can pull through your deck with Daeron's Runes, Messenger Raven or The Eagles Are Coming! you don't have to hold them for a turn or two.

Flight of the Eagles is a great card for getting extra value out of your enter/leave play eagles as well as a quick boost to your Eagles of the Misty Mountains if you really need to. The Eagle of the North is can get you is incredibly powerful and absolutely worth the "surge" from the encounter deck.

The deck works very well solo, having tested successfully against Escape from Umbar, Treachery of Rhudaur, Celebrimbors Secret, as well as making good progress through the saga boxes.

Sideboard:

Depending on your preference you can try and set Radagastup as your primary defender (though I think it's much harder to buff Radagast's defence compared to a Tactics hero like Grimbeorn the Old.

In multiplayer with a good sentinel defender on the board you can swap in Legolas and help with quest progress while shooting across the table. As the base deck has limited access to ranged you have to play a more hybrid style as, relying on your direct damage eagles and Gandalf with Gwaihir's Debt to lend damage to your allies.